On 5th February, 25 Year 10 students were selected to take part in a workshop to improve their public speaking skills sponsored by the Jack Petchey Foundation. All of the students learnt how to compose a speech and deliver it effectively, drawing on body language, rhetorical devices and audience engagement. At the end of the day, six students were selected to give their speeches during an assembly so their peers could choose who would represent The Quest Academy at the Regional Finals in March.

There was a clear winner in both the eyes of the students and the staff and so this is how Nathanael Russel found himself at The Archbishop Lanfranc Academy on the evening of 20th March. The competition was fierce, and all the speakers were very talented, but Nathanael’s speech on ‘The Forgotten Human Beings’ wowed the judges, the audience and the Mayor of Croydon so much so that he was awarded 3rd place in all of Croydon, securing our spot in the top three schools for the second year in a row!

Congratulations Nathanael, you have made all of us proud and inspired younger students to follow in your footsteps!